DON’T MISS: Join The Sun on Wednesday at the University of Denver for a free, in-person event recapping the 2024 legislative session. Gov. Jared Polis will be interviewed live, followed by state lawmakers, including Sen. Jim Smallwood and Rep. Iman Jodeh.
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Colorado’s legislative session is over, and for many lawmakers that means the 2024 campaign season has begun.
Seven state Senate and 16 state House primaries will take place June 25. In many districts, whoever wins the primary will also win in November
Here’s a look at the contests worth paying close attention to:
TWO GOP SENATORS FACE CHALLENGERS, DEMS VIE FOR OPEN SENATE SEATS
Republican Sens. Larry Liston of Colorado Springs and Barbara Kirkmeyer of Brighton face primary challengers this year, but both have major financial advantages over their opponents.
The races are interesting because they highlight internal GOP strife as the party tears itself apart over conservative purity tests.
In Senate District 10, Liston’s district, he faces Rex Tonkins, husband of El Paso County GOP chairwoman Vickie Tonkins, and David Stiver, a business owner who failed to make the 2020 primary ballot in the district. Both Tonkins and Stiver were nominated via the district’s GOP nominating assembly, while Liston gathered signatures to make the ballot.
Tonkins and Stiver are pitching themselves as more conservative alternatives to Liston.
Liston had nearly $56,000 in campaign cash May 1, while Stiver had about $5,000 and Tonkins had $1,200. The Senate District 10 Republican primary winner will face Democratic candidate Michelle Maksimowicz, who calls herself an education specialist, in the heavily GOP district.
In Senate District 23, Kirkmeyer, a member of the Joint Budget Committee, faces Natalie Abshier of Mead, who ran unsuccessfully in 2021 for the St. Vrain Valley School Board. Kirkmeyer had more than $65,000 in the bank on May 1, while Abshier had $100.
There is no Democratic candidate in Senate District 23, nor have any unaffiliated or third-party candidates filed to run. That means whoever wins the Republican primary will be the de facto winner in November.
Three Democratic Senate primaries feature current House members:
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CORRECTION: An item in Friday’s edition incorrectly reported House Clerk Robin Jones‘ name. A different item undercounted the number of Democrats departing the legislature who were at one point in the minority. Sen. Rachel Zenzinger, D-Arvada, brings the number of Democrats who were at one point in the minority and Republicans who served in the majority leaving the Capitol to six. The one asterisk is Republican Sen. Larry Liston of Colorado Springs, who as a state representative more than a decade ago was for two years in the majority.
FIVE HOUSE INCUMBENTS FACE CHALLENGERS
Among the 16 primaries for state House, one Republican and four Democratic incumbents face challengers.
Those contests reflect the deep ideological differences in each caucus. And the results of each primary are likely to decide who represents the districts:
OTHER LEGISLATIVE PRIMARIES TO WATCH
Here are some other races we’ll be keeping tabs on:
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CHART OF THE WEEK
The most expensive state House primary thus far is in House District 30, where a pair of Democrats are battling in the Jefferson County district. Lakewood City Councilwoman Rebekah Stewart had raised $112,000 through May 1 and had $78,000 in her campaign’s account. Health care activist Kyra deGruy Kennedy raised nearly $86,000 and had about $34,000 left. The two are vying to replace Rep. Chris deGruy Kennedy, who is term-limited and married to Kyra deGruy Kennedy.
The Democratic primary in Senate District 19 is the most expensive Senate primary thus far. There, state Rep. Lindsey Daugherty had raised nearly $128,000 and had about $73,000 in campaign cash as of May 1. Her opponent, Westminster City Councilman Obi Ezeadi, had raised nearly $125,000 and had about $83,000 in cash as of May 1.
WHAT TO WATCH THIS WEEK
MARK YOUR CALENDAR: County clerks can begin mailing primary ballots to voters on June 3, which is less than three weeks away. Ballots are already on their way to military and overseas voters.
THE BIG STORY
Denver Chamber CEO calls on governor to broker a better property tax deal —before November
J.J. Ament, president and CEO of the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce, said Monday that Gov. Jared Polis should work between now and the November election to find a way to offer Colorado homeowners and businesses more tax relief than what’s in the legislature’s recently passed bill, but something less far reaching than the conservative measures that are on or headed for the ballot.
“If (Senate Bill) 233 represents the tax collectors’ best and final offer and the ballot represents the taxpayers’ best and final offer, then there needs to be, and I think is, space between those utopias and apocalypses,” Ament said at the chamber’s State of the State event in downtown Denver. “And we need the governor to do something that he’s actually really good at, and that’s bring these sides together so that we can meet closer to the middle and give this issue the time and attention it deserves to be done right.”
Ament’s remarks reflect the growing unease among the business community and conservatives about Senate Bill 233 as the dust settles from the legislative session that ended Wednesday. The measure was introduced and passed in the final three days of the lawmaking term. And though it had bipartisan support, that wasn’t much time for people to comb through the fine print.
Ament, who lamented the speed with which the legislation was passed, said there’s no question that 233 is better than nothing.
“Is it what voters will accept without turning to much more aggressive ballot issues this fall?” he asked. “No question it’s not.”
Ament seemed to be prodding Polis to call a special session on property taxes, which is almost certainly not going to happen. That would be the only way to make a change to the property tax code before November.
Senate Bill 233 is starting to have shades of Proposition HH, the 2023 property tax ballot measure overwhelmingly rejected by voters, in that it may have something in it for everyone to dislike.
CONSTRUCTION DEFECTS
One of the big themes of the chamber’s event was construction defects and the failure of a bipartisan bill in the legislature this year that sought to encourage condo construction by making it harder to sue builders over construction errors. The business community was one of the main drivers of the legislation.
“Colorado has a choice: Are we going to build more houses? Or are we going to have more lawsuits?” said Carly West, vice president of government affairs at the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce.
West said the bill was the chamber’s “one real goal” for the 2024 lawmaking term.
Polis, speaking at the event, said more progress on housing was made at the Capitol this year than he thought was going to happen.
“We were very excited that at least the construction defects bill made it past the Senate — so it made it through half of the process,” Polis said. “And you know what, J.J., our entire housing agenda made it through the House last time and not the Senate. So sometimes you start with one. It’s a much better place to build it (than) if it hadn’t gone anywhere, and we are continuing to join you in that work to remove barriers to condo construction in our state.”
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THE POLITICAL TICKER
ENDORSEMENTS
Conservation Colorado endorsed several Democrats in state legislative primaries this week: Rep. Mike Weissman in Senate District 28 in Aurora; Rep. Junie Joseph in House District 10 in Boulder; Rep. Julia Marvin in House District 31 in Thornton; and Larimer County Chief Deputy Assessor Yara Zokaie in House District 52. Also, U.S. Rep. Doug Lamborn, R-Colorado Springs, endorsed former Parker Mayor Greg Lopez in the 4th Congressional District special election June 25 to finish former U.S. Rep. Ken Buck’s term.
CONGRESS
U.S. Rep. Yadira Caraveo, D-Thornton, is working with U.S. Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, a Florida Republican, on a bill that would ban parabens in cosmetics. The chemical compounds, often used as preservatives in cosmetics, have been shown to have negative health effects.
ALLIANCE FOR COLLECTIVE ACTION
Alison Carlman is the new executive director of the environmental nonprofit The Alliance for Collective Action, taking over from Brenna Simmons-St. Onge, who was with the group for nine years. Carlman previously worked for GlobalGiving, an international crowdfunding platform.
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THE BIGGER PICTURE
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